How Devon County Council websites are organised
The Devon County Council ‘website’ is made up of many separate websites and services, covering different areas of our work. Each website has its own accessibility statement, to ensure we can properly describe the accessibility for each site or service.
This accessibility statement covers the Support for schools and settings website at www.devon.gov.uk/support-schools-settings and does not cover the wider family of Devon County Council websites.
Introduction
This website is run by Devon County Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser settings
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen using browser settings
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
The My Computer My Way guide from AbilityNet is a step-by-step guide to help you make your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Translation
If you would like information on our website translated into another language, you may find one of the services listed below meets your needs. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any external website or free website translators.
Under some circumstances, for example, if you cannot read the information easily in English, you can request information in a different language from us. This includes British Sign Language, easy read or a foreign language. Please contact our customer service centre for advice.
How accessible is this website?
This website has been developed to be as accessible as possible. However, we know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible. For example:
- some content may be difficult to navigate using a screen reader
- some older documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
- some controls on pages – this may include links, buttons, and fields – do not show when they have been selected by the keyboard
- some older videos do not have captions – these are targeted at a very specific audience of maths teachers and are not necessary to access any services
What to do if you can’t access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Devon County Council is committed to making its website accessible, under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
On 1 August 2022 education services previously being delivered by a private sector organisation – Babcock LDP – on behalf of Devon County Council moved back in-house.
The Support for schools and settings website has been created to house much of the information from the Babcock LDP website, as well as that previously hosted on Devon County Council’s Support for schools website.
PDF and other documents
The Babcock LDP website contained a large amount of information in Word or PDF documents. Many of these were originally designed to be printed booklets, others are designed to be printed for use offline, for example, lesson planning tools or pupil review forms.
Some PDF documents published since September 2018 aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software. These are being reviewed and will be accessible as soon as possible. We have started the process of converting documents into web content, but we still have work to do on this – for example we have converted the Critical incident support pack but have yet to publish the Graduated Response tool documents as web pages.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we don’t plan to fix the Devon Dyslexia Policy currently, as this needs to be reviewed by the newly combined services. Once we have a new version we will publish that as accessible content.
There are a limited number of PDFs on this website that were designed as print-ready leaflets or brochures, which have been added to the website to supplement online content. We’ve assessed them and believe that they do not provide essential information about the service that isn’t available through other accessible methods, for example, the Educating out of year group leaflet.
Some of the documents and resources that are published on this website are designed specifically to be downloaded and printed for display or other offline purposes, and as a result may not be fully accessible, for example some of the tools provided for monitoring pupil’s progress in English (English assessment)
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Videos
A few older videos lack captions and do not meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not require us to add captions to videos produced before 23 September 2020 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new videos we publish will meet accessibility standards.
External links and content
This website may link or embed content from third-party, external websites or services that are not fully accessible.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We provide training to all content authors to ensure new content is accessible. We monitor this website weekly and we aim to address any issues promptly. We will be reviewing this site regularly and updating this statement accordingly.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 12 August 2022. It was last reviewed on 12 August 2022.
125 pages of this website are audited for WCAG 2.1 compliance issues using a third-party automated service on a weekly basis. All pages are audited on an annual basis.
Contact us
For any enquiries about the accessibility of this website, you can contact us by:
- emailing digitalcomms@devon.gov.uk
- calling 0345 155 1015 and asking for the ‘Digital Communications Team’
- post at Digital Communications Team (G59), County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon EX2 4QD
British Sign Language users can contact us using an online interpreter who will relay your conversation with an appropriate member of Devon County Council staff, and then sign back to you their response to your questions.